


A tale of Eraia: Volume 1

by SafiyahS



Category: Eraian Fantasy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:36:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21883114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafiyahS/pseuds/SafiyahS





	A tale of Eraia: Volume 1

It was like she never left and everything stayed the same. She breathed in the same air and saw the same sights. This room, this castle, had become the place she lived for the last four years. It was a modest and calm place to go for any who had come to visit. Not many people left without feeling satisfied by their visit and wanting to return. Um Hidaya was something of a second home to travelers, and a safe comfort to those who lived there. But for Anaya, it wasn't home. It didn't matter how long she had been there and how many people she befriended. Her new family could come with her with their best smiles and compliments of welcome to the family, but she didn't see them as such. The Ali's, as nice as they were at first, proved to be true to her suspicions in the beginning. It hadn't taken long for them to see her as nothing more than the princess they had snatched from the capital for their son. They wanted here there and in their family for what her titles brought them: favor from the royal family. But they weren't her family, they never were.

"Sister." Her husbands sister made it her life goal to call her that any chance she got with the widest smile–fake all the same–on her face. She would then hook her arm with Anaya's and pull her around the town of Um Hidaya to show her off. She didn't need much help with telling the public who she was. With gossip running wild and the crown sat upon Anaya's head, they knew. They understood her station as the realms precious daughter. She was inevitably their prize to gloat to those of the outside world of who was among them. Anaya hated it. But the worse memory she could have of being there lied with the man she gave herself to. She had not seen him stumble into their room that night but heard him loud and clear. The stench from his breath reached her from the door of their room and she burrowed her face into the covers and willed herself to sleep.

But she could hear him as he moved around, moaning and groaning from what she knew would be another bad headache. He would need help with medicine and to ready for bed again, but she was tired. From the day, from him. She just wanted to sleep. The sound of his toppling over onto the floor didn't register until she next morning. She had woken up for fajr as she always hadand lit the oil lamp by her bed. She was the one to find him on the floor of her room covered in vomit. But he was unmoving, lifeless. She could barely feel her senses as she crouched down next to him and called for a guard or anyone to come. But they were too late. She was too late. He was gone and his family shunned her for it. And now she was here.

"Mama." Sumayya began to shake her awake from the nightmare she relived and looked at her with a frown. The carriage continued to move down the rode at a steady pace, yet her mind was hazy and regret took over. She wanted to be awake to witness her homecoming. "Mama there is a scary castle." The little girl spoke in a low voice and clutched her doll to her chest. "I don't like it."

"Come here." Anaya sighed and opened her arms to wrap them protectively around her. She pulled back the curtain of the carriage window and felt her breath catch. "This is where Mama grew up." She whispered, pulling her daughter closer to her and digging at the comfort she gave. "I lived here when I was a few years older than you."

"Why did you leave?"

Anaya smiled. "To have you." She placed a kiss against her dark curls. "And to start my life. But now I am back."

"It looks big and scary." Sumayya said, looking wearily at the building as it began to get bigger the closer they came upon it. "Is this where grandma and grandpa are?" Anaya nodded, and Sumayya's eyes widened. "I get to meet them!"

"You've met then before." Anaya reassured her. "But you were very young."

"Do they miss me?"

"Of course."

Sumayya sighed in content. "I miss them too."

"And you shall see them again. Now," Anaya gently slid her daughter from her lap and guided her to the seat across from her. The crunch of gravel beneath the carriage wheels was her warning of how close they were getting. They needed to be ready. With a stern gaze, she clasped her daughters hands tightly with her own. "What shall you do when meeting the king and queen?"

"Hug them." The young girl said excitedly, but calmed down almost instantaneously at the scold Anaya sent her. She sighed sadly. "I will greet the king and queen with warm pleasantries."

"Yes." Anaya nodded. "How?"

"I will greet them the royal way as you taught me. I will lower my gaze in respect before they call me to greet them properly." She recited word for word, as her mother taught her months before their departure. No longer was she a child of a common house with no such courtesy's. She would do her duty as a loyal subject to her family and keep her respect for the monarchs who ruled. Even if she was only six years old. 

With a firm squeeze, Anaya brought Sumayya's attention back to her with a warm smile. The carriage began to slow down. "We are guests here, darling, remember that. We must show the same respects as other higherborn children of this land."

"Even if we are related to the royals?" She asked in confusion, and Anaya only nodded. Especially then. "Can we ever act normal around them?"

"One day." Anaya brought her small, brown hands to her mouth and placed a soothing kiss. She braved herself as the driver prepared to open the door. "But today we show our courtesies."

As she waited for the door to open, she looked down to her hands clasped in the layers of her dress and willed them to stop shaking. This is her family, her home, she shouldn't feel frightened. But she was no longer the dutiful princess who left all of those years ago to do her duty. She once rode off in a carriage with a crown on her head, tears in her eyes, and a smile she willed to stay in place for however long it took. Not her head sat bare with only her hijab tightly bound. Her tears had long since dissipated with hope to return. Now her smile was soft and gentle, no where the grin she used to fake. I am home, she realized as the door opened and someone in red stepped forward to help guide them down the stairs. Her eyebrows rose in surprise to see her younger brother before her, a man grown with a full beard gracing his ebon face. His eyes held the same twinkle of their childhood and she took his hand gratefully.

"Thank you, Ilhan." She smiled at him after descending the last step and waiting for her daughter. "It's okay." She urged her sweetly seeing her hesitation for the strange man. "He is your uncle."

"Grab my hand, princess." Her brother sweetly, offering it to the young girl. "Come meet your family."

"Are you mothers brother?" She asked sheepishly when they had descended the steps, but she never let go of his hand. Her eyes were pleading for answers that Ilhan gave her with a nod. "She missed you a lot." She said, causing him to fondly look towards Anaya.

He squeezed her hand gently. "As did I."

They walked side by side until they stood in front of the royal family- their family. Her mother clutched her fathers arm tightly as they stood in front of them. She hardly had a minute to look over them before she was bowing her head and waiting to be beckoned. Sumayya followed her actions. Moments later she felt a soft hand grasp her check and lift it up to meet their eyes. Her mother smiled down at her.

"May daughter." She said happily yet softly as she extended a hand towards her. "Greet your mother." 

Anaya took her hand gracefully and placed a kiss, sending a silent duaa for for allowing her this moment with her- with them. She was home. It only took a few steps before her father was also in front of her, extending his hand. She mirrored the movements she had down with her mother and finally allowed herself to look upon them. They were the same as she had left them, if a bit older. But their eyes and faces had stayed in her memory the entire time she was away. She should never forget them. 

"You have returned." Her father said gently despite the fact that his face gave no emotion away. He continued to look at her hard and stern as he often did when he was about to scold her. She didn't miss that look. 

"I have." She replied back, reaching to grasp her own daughters chin and lift it up to greet her parents. "This is Sumayya, my daughter."

Her mother gasped, bending down slowly to caress the young girls face that mirrored hers in a way that often brought heartache to Anaya. She mirrored they person she missed the most. And as Sumayya repeated what she had done with her mothers hand, she could see the queens eyes filled with tears. Even her fathers face softened. 

"You have taught her well." The king commented, looking back to his daughter with so many emotions, it was hard to decipher which he favored more. But with a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She held on just as tightly, remember the last time they had been like this- the last time she was here.

The carriage was packed and prepared to leave and would have been gone if not for the kings last farewell to his daughter. He had wrapped her arms around her tightly and peppered her head with kisses, hating the sight of the carriage filled with all she held dear.

"Remember your duty." He said to her in their stance. "As a wife, a future mother, new daughter, and forever princess. What is that duty?"

"To follow through with it gracefully." She recited to him, her voice laced in sadness. Her tears began to line the back of his tunic. She continued. "To remember why I must do this and to remember who I am."

He nodded stiffly and pulled her closely. "And?"

"To stick through this to the end. To never abandoned the promises I have made."

"Yes. Your visits are always welcome and this will always be your home, but you are to make another one. You are a princess of Eraia, Anaya. Do your duty."

As he pulled back she expected to see the same face of the man had sent her off, to see him smile and wish her well on returning to him. But he only turned away as quickly as he found her and moved to greet his granddaughter. Her heart sank, she caught a sob in her throat once he was gone, the reality of how different everything was now weighing on her. She wanted to find home again, but instead it was as if she found strangers.

***

Her eyes filled with tears once she was inside the castle and was able to greet the rest of her siblings properly. She had fallen into their arms with sobs wrecking her when she had seen them. They had grown and were no longer children and the fact weighed heavily on her. By the time she had landed on her youngest brother and had to look up to greet him, she was inconsolable.

"Anaya, I am not that much older." He said with a laugh as she hugged him back, but he was. He was taller and his voice was deeper. A whisper of a mustache grew on his face, marking him as a man grown. He was no longer the shy child that she had remembered.

"You are not, brothers, you have grown a foot." She exclaimed a last time before pulling back to look over him fully again. Where had the time gone. "Has it been so long since I have been gone?"

"Six years is a long time, I guess." He smirked with a light shrug, causing her heart to ache at all of the years gone by. His eyes landed at her daughter who was protectively in the arms of Ilhan as he showed her around the room. "It's hard to believe you're mother now. I could barely see you as a wife."

She smiled. "You were young when I wed, it must have been quite bizarre."

"Yes." He agreed. Then his voice was low. "Especially when you never returned.

"I wish I could have, but I had a duty there." She explained sadly, but even she couldn't understand her reasoning for being gone as long as she was, or why there was never a visit. 

"How was Um Hidaya?"

She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "A lot different from the capital." She said, looking around at all of the new changes to the building they stood in. What once was a modest sitting room had expanded to something greater with rows of painting of intricate designs. Flowers littered the walls in floors in vibrant colors that she had not seen during her time in the east. "Not so many familiar friendly faces."

He frowned, Sorry lines clear on his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't know your time away was so bad. Well...actually after your husband..." he trailed off.

She knew what he was trying to say and didn't press for more detail. "It was months ago. The past." She said simply with sigh. She had ejected forgotten that time, but she had to leave it there in the past. If she looked back, she would never move forward. Thankfully her brother didn't press her further for details and they joined her daughter and their other brother one of the couches in the room. She held in her hand a gold coin that caused Anaya to raise her eyebrows in surprise. He kept it. The little girl had her eyebrows scrunched in concentration along with biting her lip as she situated the coin in her hand. Ilhan kept a straight as she tried to work it, calmly explains how to use it.

"I can't!" She said in exasperation, thrusting the coin in his direction with a huff. "Take it, I cant do it!"

Her brother watched along with her in amusement and leaned towards her. "I see she inherited your flare for the dramatic." He mused, but she only rolled her eyes.

Ilhan took the coin that she offered and placed it in his own hand. "It's easy watch." He said to her, flicking the coin with his finger and watched her amazed reaction to it flipping multiple times before landing back in his hand. He did it again, a little slower, and extending the coin back towards her. "Your turn."

Sumayya narrowed her eyes at him and huffed. "How did you do that?"

"I just showed you how."

She shook her head. "No. I did what you showed and nothing!" She exclaimed again, throwing her hands up. They all tried their best to hold in their laughter at her frustration. She pushed his hand back towards him. "Do it again."

They all watched intently as her brother complied and flipped the coin again. And again, and again, and again, until Sumayya was ready to do it again. This time she took the coin with confidence and flicked her arm into the air along with the coin. Her gasp filled the silence as the coin flew and landed across the room, startling one of the groundskeepers.

"Bring the coin." Ilhan instructed her with a laugh and the woman replied, rushing to pick it up and return it to them. Her brother held out his hand for her to drop it before dismissing her with a hand. Anaya couldn't help the look of amusement she wore as she watched the scene before her. "What?" Ilhan asked when he caught her staring at him, her lips twisted in a grin.

With a sigh, Anaya spoke. "It will take me a while to realize that you are a man grown." She said. "You act like one as well."

"You were expecting a quiet child?" He shook his head laughing as if the idea was ridiculous. "If I had not grown out of my childhood faze I wouldn't be ready for many things."

"Like your marriage?" Their other brother joined the conversation with a playful edge. "Only a few months away before she gets here."

"The Sedari girl." Anaya started. Her mouth voluntarily twisted into a snarl as she thought of the girl she had never met, but she hadn't needed to. Her name alone was reason enough to dislike her. "This is still happening?" She asked them both and they nodded. She huffed. "I don't like it."

"Why not Mama." Sumayya asked after haven been concentrating on the coin in her hands. She looked between the three siblings, clear confusion on her face.

"Yeah...." Ilhan trailed off with a smirk as he watched his sister try to come up with a reason. "Why not?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You know why not."

"I don't." Sumayya huffed.

With a small smile, Anaya lent forward to flick her nose. "Good." She turned back to her brother beside her. "Where is father?"

"More than likely in his study..." He trailed off as he eyes her suspiciously, looking to Ilhan to see if he caught on. "Why?"

"I must catch up with him." She said simply. She stood up and smoothed out the layers of her dress. "You two watch your niece until I return."

As she walked towards the door as quickly as she could, Ilhan called after her and she stopped. "When will you be back."

She pushed out a breath and huffed our "Soon," as she continued on her way. The memory of the castle grounds and its various rooms came back to her the more she walked, and so did the memories. It didn't matter which corridor she turned to or which familiar room she spotted. Even the servers walking about the place were familiar to a time when she had never thought she would leave. And by the time she had walked to the other side of the castle and stood in front of her fathers study, she couldn't help but feel the same as when he called her to discuss her betrothal. That was when everything went wrong. The door was ajar when she came upon it and she pushed it in, staring in surprise at who inhabited the space. Her father, yes, but he wasn't alone.

"I would like a word, father." She said to him, and then her eyes drifted to the men sat on the couch in various colors of the houses they were born into. She recognized them all. She turned back to her father with a small smile. "When you're not too busy."

"I'm free now." He assured her and stood to dismiss the men around the table and beckon her forward. One by one they welcomed her back home with their own set of courtesies. She thanked them all as graciously as she was taught, despite her crown no longer sitting on her head.

"Princess." The last one, the youngest of the men dipped his head in greeting. Despite the lack of his house colors and the replacement being a drab brown, it didn't take her long to recount her childhood friend.

"Benyamin Ra'uf." She said softly to the man in front of her whom she had to forget no matter how many times their childhood in the castle replayed in her head. "Thank you for the welcome." He need not say more, and she wouldn't let him. She moved away once her courtesies were finished and sat in one of the unoccupied chairs across from her father. When the door was properly closed and the room contained the two of them, only then did she relax.

"Have was your journey?" Her father asked at the head of the table, leaning his head as he spoke to observe her. 

"A lot different than when I left." She replied.

He nodded at this and cleared his throat. "I was sorry to hear about your husband." He told her softly, and though she had begun to feel nothing for the man she shared six years with, his death hurt all the same. I should have prevented it. "You're mother..." he continued. "She wanted to come to you and comfort you, but I advised her not to. So don't hold that against her."

"I would have loved to see her." She said, her voice betraying her with a crack. It wouldn't have made a difference. She had been telling herself that, but having her there would have made all the difference but she wouldn't let herself believe it. "But you are the king and shall do what you see fit."

"Know that I have good reason for stopping her. Know that I do what I do for the benefit of all."

She nodded. "I understand." But I still wanted her. I needed her comfort. She straightened up in her seat and willed the past few months to leave her mind. It was the past and she was in the present. It was time to plan her future. "But it doesn't matter now." She said, and he raised an eyebrow in shock. "As you can see I noticed the meeting you partook in with your council. I'm sure your meeting was valuable to the realm."

He hummed at this and shook his head, chuckling as he realized what she was doing. Anaya ignored that and continued.

"How is our continent?"

"My continent?" He asked.

She shook her head, a smirk playing on her lips. "Ours." She stated. "Along with every soul who lives here. It is up to us as the royal family to run things right."

"You just got in, Anaya. Wouldn't you rather go to your rooms and rest with your daughter? I'm sure you are both exhausted from your journey."

"I will go." She agreed easily. He didn't even try to hide the relief on his face, but again she ignored it as she stood. "But I will be back. I would like to discuss my role in decisions as soon as possible."

He scoffed. "Your role?"

"I am a princess of Eraia." She reminded him with her own wide smile. "I should sit in on the council meetings again and share my input.

"We have enough members." He shot down, but she only shrugged.

"I will act as a guest." She replied easily. 

With a groan, the king rubbed a hand across his face and began to mutter, a sure sign that she had gotten to him. It was only a matter of time before he gave in. He looked up at her in defeat and waved her over to him. It didn't take longer than a few seconds for her to stand in front of her father and have him grasp her hands in his. His face was twisted in a frown.

"I am very glad that you are back, my darling." He said in a low voice. His eyes showed all of the emotion that his words failed to. In them she saw the deep love and regret she had seen earlier. But now he wasn't fighting to show it as he sat in front of her. Pulling her hands up together, he kissed her knuckles one by one and looked up with a proud smile. "Welcome back princess."

Her smile mirrored his as she bent down to hug him, melting into his familiar embrace.

***

"What are you doing out here?" Sera trend around and smiled to see Amr coming up the stairs. He took the space beside her, leaning against the balcony. "Don't tell me you don't like your party."

"I do." She sighed. "But it's not a birthday party. It's a going away party."

"No." He smirked. "It's a birthday party."

"It's a send off." She stated, slumping her shoulders and focusing more on the view in front of here. Here, from the largest house in the valley, it overlooked everything else. Miles and miles of green trees spread across the land that her family had inhabited for hundreds of years, and hopefully more to come. Even a small of her always thought that one day she might govern over it and it's people. After all, Veleyna Valley has had many rulers, most of them being women. But now it hurt to think about it. She would soon set sail at the pier on her way to the capital. She wouldn't control the valley, but her future husband would one day control the continent.

"Cheer up." Amr bumper his shoulders with hers as a way to get her laugh or at least not be upset today of all days. It was almost midnight and they were expecting her downstairs. She would have to put on a smile as they wished her a happy birthday and gifted her with many presents. But none of them were what she wanted. She only wanted to stay.

"How can I?" She huffed. "In a few months I leave the life that I've known behind to do something that I couldn't decide on my own.

"It was decided when you were right." He pointed out, smiling when her shoulders shook in a silent chuckle. "I doubt my sister would send you into a situation she didn't think was good or safe."

"I don't know with my mother anymore." She sighed, and her uncle regarded her closely, waiting for her to continue. "She's been acting weird for a while now. You haven't noticed?"

He shook his head. "No. Weird how?"

She shrugged. "She's quieter and I noticed more security out around the walls of the city. Often times I've caught her talking quietly to the guards and being extra careful with my brothers and I. She's even more hurried to ship me off to the capital. It's like she doesn't care."

"She cares." Amr deadpanned and turned around from leaning his elbows on the balcony to using his back, a thoughtful look on his face. "But she has to keep up her end of the deal. The king won't take up arms against the valley as long as you journey to the capital and become a princess. It's not a bad deal if you ask me."

"Then why don't you do it." She snapped. Amr pursed his lips with a sigh but remained silent. "So many things could have been different if my father hadn't openly rebelled with the would be usurper. Why couldn't he have listened to mother and leave it be? Instead he chose the wrong prince to back and died for it."

It had been ten years since that fateful time that changed everything, but even at eight years old Sera remembered. She was a frightened girl clinging to her younger brother when the soldiers came. Men in red surrounded the walls of their home and called for her parents to come fourth and face their sentence. There was so much screaming that she thought it would never. It didn't matter how tight she held her brother Sayid like a lifeline while her parents were elsewhere. They wouldn't leave until they got what they wanted. And they did. It was the last day that she saw her father.

"People who do the damnedest things for what they believe in." He finally answered after a while, but even he didn't sound to sure of himself. "But now we're in an age where we have to make those decisions too. You're no longer that scared eight year old and I'm no longer that six year old who waited at home oblivious as to what was happening. So it's time to grow up and do better than those before us. Or we'll end up just like them."

"And being better is going to the capital?" She asked incredulously, her heart sinking every time she thought of what could happen to her there. There was no doubt that the people there would hate her. The Sedari name was quickly household discussion during the rebellion that claimed many lives when the brothers decided to both fight for the throne. And her father had chosen the losing side. She turned to her young uncle, her eyes showing how tired she was. "I will do what I must." She said simply, standing up from the balcony and sweeping her eyes across the darkness set over the city. 

Many candles had gone out, leaving the only light as the sun. It shone bright that night, never despairing of what it was created for. So neither did she.

Wordlessly, she turned around leaving the pice that the balcony gave her and descending the stairs to join the party one more. It was a small, modest event for friends and family, yet there was no less that fifty people in the room. There were people from her mothers side, her fathers side, and even friends who they considered family as well. They all began to wish her a happy early birthday as she walked through out the room, the train of her golden dress trailing behind her. Her hijab was a simple black encrusted with gold sparkles, trying the outfit together. She looked beautiful, she felt beautiful, yet awful at the same time. Sera was greeted with wide smiles when she came upon her two brothers. Sayid, being twelve and the oldest of the two, wrapped his arms around her tightly. The mere motion brought back those same awful memories of when the situation was reversed. But she smiled anyway, returning it and relaxing into his touch.

"Happy birthday." He said with a smile as he pulled back from her. Seven year old Muhsin stood beside him with a toothless grin, and she couldn't help the laugh they came to her at the sight.

"I have something for you!" He said excitedly, pulling a rose from behind his back and pushing it towards her. It was a white rose, grown on the island that her mother and uncle came from; Wardah Isle.

"How did you get your hands on one of these roses?" She asked as she twirled it in her fingers, admiring it. The thorns were discarded, more than likely cut off by Sayid for Muhsin. She lifted the rose to her nose, calming at the scent. It smelled like the Island she hadn't visited it years. 

Muhsin smiles cheekily and shrugged his shoulders, not daring to say anymore. Sera narrowed her eyes in suspicion but said nothing more. 

"Mother is waiting for you in your room." Sayid said after a moment of silence. Amr joined them then, his own curiosity peeked at the single rose.

"My room?" Her brows raised. "Why is she hiding?"

Sayid shrugged. "She said to just meet her there but didn't say why. You shouldn't hurry."

"It's almost midnight." Amr reminded her, holding up his stopwatch. He smiled at her. "Hurry back so we can eat cake."

Listening to them, she continued forward across the room and up the formal staircase to the living quarters. The house was vacant except for a few people here and there as they swept and watered the plants inside the house. The door to the garden was open and the cool air came in, causing her skin to prickle with goosebumps. Winter would be coming soon, and then spring, and then she would be gone. She tried to push the thought away and held up her dress as she walked the stairs and headed to her room. Her mother was inside sitting on her bed when she arrived. She had a doll in her hands as her eyes roamed over it in deep thought.

"You left your party." Her mother lifted her eyes from the doll and smiled lightly at her, the side sides of her eyes wrinkling. "Come sit beside me."

"Where did you find this?" Sera asked after she had taken a seat beside her. 

Her mother sighed. "It was sitting on your chest collecting dust. I couldn't believe the sight. You loved this doll dearly when you were younger. You even slept with it." Her eyes met hers again, and she smiled brightly. "Do you remember?"

She did. Sera nodded. "I remember."

"I want you to take it when you go." She said suddenly, and Sera peered at her again, her eyes narrowed slightly. She was acting strange again, she could tell. She was sure everyone in the house, including Sera, had forgotten about the dolls existence. But here her mother was perched on the side of her bed, clutching said doll. Again she was reminded of that day eight years ago when she held Sayid just as tightly. They will go away soon, she would whisper to him, but even she didn't believe those words. Everyone will be okay. I promise. But it wasn't, and that promise was broken.

"It's a great honor, you know." Her mother continued. She rubbed her thumb against the back of the dolls spine almost methodically. "To join the royal family. To become a princess. It shows that the Sedari's are loyal to them, and always will be."

"We still have to prove our loyalty after eight years?" Sera whispered incredulously. "We have been nothing but loyal."

"And your marriage will prove we're loyal still." Her mother said softly. "It has been decided. It will be done. Eighteen is the age that was set for this."

"I have never even met any of them, yet I know they hate me because of what my father did." at the mention of her father her mother flinched so softly that it was barely noticeable, but she was right beside her and looking at her. It was noticeable, and so was the way her eyes darkened.

Wordlessly, her mother placed her hand in her hands and stood up. She brushed his hands down the skirt of her dress and cleared her throat.

"Will you ever tell me what happened?" Sera asked her as she now clutched her doll tightly in her hands. Her mothers back was to hers but she didn't move as she listened. Sera swallowed. "Please." She pleaded, her eyes welling with frustrated tears. "I will soon leave and we may never see each other again. You owe me to tell me about him, about what happened to him. He was my father!"

Her mother turned around quickly and peered at her, but she wasn't angry. She saw the pure raw anger and hurt shining in Sera's eyes no matter how much she tried to hide it. Instead, she looked to the watch clutched into her hand. It was small and encrusted with red rubies, a white and green rose painted on the back. She closed her eyes and lent down to place a gentle kiss to Sera's forehead. "I'm sorry." She said to her once she pulled back. She placed a soft hand to Sera's face and looked into the eyes that she shared with her father. "Happy birthday." 

Sera had no time to respond. Her mother silently walked out of her room and shut the door behind her.

*


End file.
